


Brothers

by Baamon5evr



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Brother Feels, Brothers, Canon-Book & Show Combination, Family Feels, Gen, House Stark, Pre-Canon, Sibling Love, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 09:19:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14053800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baamon5evr/pseuds/Baamon5evr
Summary: "Why won't you just leave me alone?!""Because you're my brother and anyone who says different doesn't know what they're talking about, even if that person is me!"(or another fic about that one time Robb called Jon a bastard)





	Brothers

Ned liked to believe he was in tuned with his children's feelings, even when surrounded by other people. So when he noticed Robb still sitting to himself at the high table rather than mingling with the other guests like his siblings or even just off in the corner with Theon, he knew something was wrong.

"You're quiet." He commented to his son after leaving the Blackfish and Ser Rodrik. Robb didn't answer him.

"Is something wrong?" Robb shrugged lightly in response.

"No." He said in a small, quiet voice. It was one Ned would think more suited to Jon, not Robb. Robb had always been outspoken and loud, boisterous. He could easily lift a room with his smile but he wore a frown now and when Ned thought of it, he'd been wearing a frown all day.

"I'm your father, I know when you're lying." Ned retorted, taking a seat next to his son. Robb was quiet a moment before mumbling something underneath his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said the reason I'm quiet is because Jon hates me." That took Ned aback. Of all things he knew of Jon Snow, hate towards his siblings or anyone was not in his character.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because I said something that hurt his feelings and he is never going to talk to me again." Ned was certain that wasn't the case but to a child of one and ten he was sure things probably seemed just that binary.

"What happened?" Ned asked instead. Robb sighed before speaking.

"We were playing Maidens and Monsters again and Jon said he was the Lord of Winterfell, just as well as any other time, but this time when he did I said he could never be because he was just a bastard." Robb confessed, looking down in shame. Ned was surprised. That never seemed to bother Robb before.

"I didn't even mean to say it, it just... slipped out. I regretted it as soon as I said it. Patrek and Lyman were there and they started laughing at Jon and he ran away. I talked to Mother about it. She always has good advice but she said that I'm to be the heir to Winterfell and I shouldn't waste my time on a bastard. She said it's an insult to entertain him over Lord Mallister and Lord Darry's sons. She didn't want me to introduce Jon to them at all and Jon didn't want to offend them but I made him come play with us anyway." Ned opened and closed his mouth. He knew Catelyn hated Jon and he knew that Southern perception of bastards was harsher than it was in the North. He could understand the ideology behind Catelyn's bids to isolate Jon from their guests, especially since they were Riverlords, but he hoped she could put aside her animosity towards Jon for the betterment of the boys' relationship. Maybe that was asking for too much.

"Well, have you tried to talk to Jon since then?"

"Every time I try to approach him he runs away. He doesn't want to talk to me ever again."

"I'm sure he's just confused and hurt. Most probably afraid too."

"Afraid of what?" Robb asked, his nose scrunched in confusion.

"Losing you, mayhaps. You two are sides of a coin. Always together, always mirroring one another. You two spent infancy in the cradle together. You walked and talked one right after another. I remember when Jon broke his leg after that accident with his horse and was bed-ridden. You lasted all of a day without him before you thought up how to remedy the matter: by jumping off the Heart Tree so you could break your leg too and spend all day in bed with him." A smile began blossoming on Robb's face.

"Jon was so angry, he lectured me for hours about being responsible. I was just happy to be by his side again." The smile waned from Robb's face just as quickly.

"But what if he doesn't want me anymore? Even after I apologize?"

"You are family, this will not get in the way of that. You remember what I always tell you?"

"The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives."

"Aye. This will pass but amends must be made first." Robb nodded firmly in agreement and hopped up to leave.

"Cover for me with Mother?" He requested. Ned smiled softly and nodded his head.

"Of course. Off you go." Robb smiled in return before losing himself in the crowd of taller men until he could slip away. Ned watched him go with a soft smile. He remembered the days when it was he and Brandon bickering with one another, though not over each other's legitimacy. But they were like night and day and their father had to mediate more than once. Back then, he could get so angry with him. Brandon knew just what to say and do to rile Ned up. Now he missed his older brother like a limb.

He hoped Robb and Jon never knew the sting of that loss until they were old men.

**~*~*~**

Robb was nervous as he searched the grounds for Jon. It felt like a lifetime but really was probably just five or ten minutes. It was long enough to make him anxious.

 _What if Father was wrong? What if Jon doesn't want to see me? What if he ran away? It'll be all my fault. He'll freeze and die and his soul will haunt me forever._ Robb's thoughts raced with ridiculous notions and exaggerated worries and he found himself jogging almost as he looked all around Winterfell before finding Jon in the place he should've thought to check first. Little five-year-old Arya was sent to her room for flinging food at Sansa again. Mother said she was old enough to know better and she had unapologetically retreated to her bedchamber. Arya was loud and Robb could hear her chatting excitedly through the closed door. He could tell from her tone who was with her, there was only one person she'd be talking to so animatedly. He knocked on her door and silence fell before the door opened. Arya's face drew up when she saw it was him.

"What do _you_ want?" Jon must've told her and even if she didn't understand fully what he'd done, she must've known it made Jon sad.

"I need to speak to Jon."

"He doesn't wanna talk to you." She snapped back angrily.

"Arya, behave yourself." Jon admonished quietly, walking to the door. He wouldn't quite meet Robb's eyes to his annoyance and despair.

"Is there something you need, my lord?"

"Don't call me that." Robb replied immediately.

"What shall I call you then?"

"Brother. I'm your brother." Jon didn't answer him. Robb felt some fear rise in him but he pushed it down.

"I need to speak to you alone, in private." Arya looked put out at that but Jon waved her off and followed Robb away from her room and around the corner.

"Is there something of great concern I can help you with, my lord?"

"I said don't call me that."

"It's the proper way to address someone of higher station than myself, and you are of a higher station."

"That doesn't mean... look, I'm sorry for what I said. I shouldn't have called you a bastard."

"You only spoke the truth, my lord. I am a bastard."

"But you're not just a bastard, you're my brother." Something flashed in Jon's eyes that Robb couldn't make out and then Jon dropped the courtesy and turned on his heel, walking away from Robb. He felt his heart drop as he went. 

"Jon." He called after him but Jon didn't turn. He found himself chasing after him, catching up to him easily and following behind him as he walked through the halls of the keep. Mother would say it was improper to chase after a bastard and more improper for Robb to walk behind him like he was subservient to him but he didn't care about all that just then.

"Jon, please talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Yes, there is. I'm trying to apologize to you. I want... we can just forget I ever said anything and go back to the way we were."

"No, we can't!" Jon exclaimed, turning around to face Robb abruptly, surprising him.

"Don't you see? You were right, I'm just a bastard. I don't have a place here. I don't belong here. Not with your mother and her Riverlords. Not with you or Sansa or Arya or Bran, because I'm not like you. I'm a mistake Father made in a moment of weakness, a shame, a lone stain on his honor."

"That's not--"

"It is! Everyone says so. You should just follow Sansa's lead and leave me alone from now on because I'm not your brother, I'm just your half-brother." Jon turned around again to leave him and Robb almost let him go in his shock but he plowed forward, following Jon as he made his way to his chambers. He ignored him at first but eventually began to speak to him.

"Go away, Robb."

"No."

"Leave." Robb didn't answer him. They were quiet a while, only their feet making noise.

"Robb."

"I said no."

" _Go away_."

"I won't."

"Why won't you leave me alone?!"

"Because you're my brother and anyone who says different doesn't know what they're talking about, even if that person is me! We were in the cradle together. We've seen every nameday together. We've spent nearly every day of our lives together. If that is not a brother, then what is?! Who cares about blood? Any two fools can share blood, that's not the only thing that makes a family. I allowed the River lordlings to turn my mind to folly but no more. You _are_ my brother and besides that, you are my best friend. That is never going to change." Robb replied fiercely. Jon looked at him uncertainly, shaking his head.

"But your mother--"

"Is not the future Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. I am. I love my mother, but she isn't always right. You're my brother and when I am Lord of Winterfell you will be my brother in every way."

"What do you..."

"I'll legitimize you when I'm Lord of the North." Jon gave him a look of cautious hope and disbelief and even when Robb nodded in confirmation the look didn't change. That caused a pang of hurt but Robb pushed it away. That was alright he'd just have to show him later on.

"You don't believe me now, but you'll see." Robb vowed.

**~*~*~**

Jon remembered that argument with Robb years ago. That had been the one and only time Robb had ever called him a bastard and he had been apologetic for weeks after, walking on eggshells around Jon until he'd gotten fed up and told him to forget it ever happened so they could return to normal and so they had. Jon himself only remembered it in his darkest moods, his memories of Robb taking on that glass-full perspective that came with loss and death. The good memories stayed and the bad memories, while lingering, faded. 

Robb had kept his promise, Jon discovered only after he became King in the North following his battle with Ramsay Bolton. Lord Howland Reed had brought Robb's final will and testament and his final words some days ago. Jon had been reluctant but the lord insisted he read it and that was how he learned that Robb decreed Jon be legitimized, released from his Night's Watch vows and made King in the North in the event of Robb's death weeks after Lords Glover and Manderly had already named him so. He hadn't thought of turning his name to Stark even after being crowned but now...

He wondered what Sansa would say when he showed her this, that Robb had taken her out of the line of succession. He wasn't sure of her reaction. Jon himself wasn't sure what to think. He hadn't believed Robb all those years ago when he said he would legitimize him. Robb's final letter to him had even touched on it.

 _'If you're reading this, Jon, then I'm dead. I hope I died a noble death, one that means something for our people and that I took a few Lannisters with me. It also means that I must address you as Jon Stark and not Jon Snow. I only regret that I am not with you to see your face upon reading my will. I'm sure it was priceless. I told you I would legitimize you, didn't I? One way or another. Perhaps I am with you, in spirit. I hope I am. Do not mourn for me too much, brother. Your brooding has given you enough premature wrinkles as it is. I wish I could do more than just this for you. I wish I was with you even now but we've our duties to do. Protect the North, protect our siblings if any still live and protect yourself. I love you, now and always and I hope not to see you on this side for a long time yet.'_ \- Your brother, Robb

And beyond the shock and surprise and even satisfaction was an overwhelming sense of loss and hurt. He missed his brother every day. Some days were easier than others but today felt particularly burdensome. It felt like a whole piece of himself was gone from the world, more than just from his resurrection but a literal piece of himself was just gone and he couldn't get it back because it was somewhere in the Riverlands buried or burned or butchered with Robb. Being named Jon Stark, a final promise kept from his brother, was a cruel consolation prize to having his brother alive and with him.

But the Gods always did like their jokes.


End file.
